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The General Council today paved the way for Vanuatu’s membership in the WTO by approving its accession package. Vanuatu would have to ratify the deal by 26 April 2012 and would become WTO’s 154th member 30 days after the ratification.

New York: It is vital that international law underpin developments on the global stage, especially in an ever increasingly globalized and interconnected world, the head of the United Nations International Court of Justice (ICJ) said today.

New York: Forests can play an even greater role in feeding the world with products ranging from vitamin-rich leaves to fruits and roots, a United Nations-backed international consortium said today, calling on governments to invest more in sustainable forest management and rehabilitation.

New York: With the world population projected to reach 7 billion in five days’ time, actions taken now will decide whether the future will be healthy, sustainable and prosperous or marked by inequalities, environmental decline and economic setbacks, according to a United Nations report issued today.

The economic outlook for countries across the Middle East and North Africa region varies markedly, with the oil-exporters seeing a mild pickup in growth in 2011 on the back of higher oil prices, and the oil-importers experiencing a dramatic slowdown, the IMF says in its latest assessment of the region. The IMF’s Regional Economic Outlook for the Middle East and Central Asia, released today, projects growth in the Middle East and North Africa region, including Afghanistan and Pakistan, at 3.9 percent in 2011, down from 4.4 percent in 2010.

New York: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is calling on the world’s biggest economies to heed the voices of global public protest at their G-20 summit next week and show the bold leadership needed to resolve the global economic crisis and achieve sustainable development.

New York: The political nature of elections means that United Nations assistance must involve more than just technical advice and include mediation and the use of good offices, given the potential for violence to accompany many polls worldwide, a top UN official said today.

Lima – The World Bank Group (WBG) offered three billion dollars to President Ollanta Humala’s administration in Peru to support plans to expand social inclusion under the framework of a sustained economic development.

NEW YORK – In many respects, the gender gap in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) has been closed. Today, women in the region outnumber men in schools and universities. Since 1980, nearly 70 million women have joined the labor market ensuring that more women now work outside the home than not and that the percentage of single working women is as high as that of single men.

WASHINGTON - The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors today approved a US$18 million loan for the Additional Financing of the Irrigation Rehabilitation Emergency Project (IREP) for Armenia. The scale up and restructuring of this project will improve water use efficiency in the selected irrigation schemes, as well as foster immediate rural employment in seven regions of Armenia.